Lots of typos n grammatical mistakes in the English translation..will try to get my hands onto the original hindi version..but nonetheless painful n true portrayal of rural life in India.

No words of mine can describe the greatness of this novel.
All i can remember is...i was inconsolably crying when i finished reading this novel (without even realizing that i was actually crying)....

I am a modern girl hailing from a metro city.....never in my life have i been to a village, i have never seen farms....have never met any Peasent...realization of there existence in this world had never before occurred to me......i had often heard the news of farmers committing suicide...I had seen Ra More...

This was my first exposure to the projected banal Hindi Literature but to my amazement it swept me off floor when i finished reading it. My friend gave it to me and hence i started reading.
Munshi premchand is really a maestro in writing. It is hard to find someone even in English who can be compared to his writing skills.
The story is about a peasant who fights with Zamindars for his survival.
Most impressive aspect of this story is the stronghold over characters. Premchand never loses that. Mi More...

It's really difficult for us, the 21st century group, to comment anything about the old, un-educated, under-addressed, village life. I have personally never been to any village, and seen those earthen houses, and oil lamps. But this book has pictured those days as real, before my eyes. It was really devastating to even imagine the poor state of a family, where the single earner of the family knows his responsibilities, and keeps on working like oxes; son leaving for a city to have never come bac More...

I read this in Hindi - it was my first Hindi novel. My hindi reading was very rusty when I started, but the book drew me in, and it is a compliment to it that I read it all, and I read it all with "gusto".

Premchand is best when he writes about the village life. The stories of the main character Hori, a serf, and his family, are superbly written. The recurring theme here is hopelessness. Good things happen from time to time, but it's all generally downhill. In the beginning, Hori's landlord talk More...

I am a great fan of Munshi Premchand and i have read almost all his novels and stories. This was the first book i read of Munshi Premchand. He had potrayed very beautifully the picture of a small family living in a small village of India. How the family struggles together through all the odds and evens going in their life. It gives you an insight of the culture of India we had that time. One should read this book.

This was really good..liked the story and the way it was presented simple and realistic , the characters were so real that they will make a everlasting impression on you..exactly depicted the life of peasants in rural India , the nativity of the characters & their relationships , problems and the way they deal about them fills u with a little joy that brings a smile on your face..the way author dealt with the human emotions in each character was too good...I enjoyed a lot reading this one... More...

The best thing about this book is that it doesn't narrow down in a single stream. It streches itself into each and every corner of village life and high society. Premchand created his characters so brilliantly that each one brings its own story and sympathy to the human realities.

A perfect book with tragedy, fun, life, human behavior, thinking. It has no comparison with any other book written by the same author. It stands alone in the list. The book is mirror of Indian society at that time. Very nicely written.

Amazing...so true even in present times..shows the plight of Indian farmer which they face even today..Munshi Premchand was way ahead of his times..

I read this masterpiece in Hindi language when I was in school. It is a simple story with a powerful message and that is its USP.

Munshi Premchandji was so much ahead of times & so much rooted ........ in a great part of India, looks time has just not moved

Too good book though a story of farmer but where other characters to portray a various aspects of life.

book is very good.... it portrays the deep meaning and satire of social world

For those who don't read Hindi, Gordon Roadarmel's translation is decent.

I alwaya enjoy reading Premchand's books. He is one of the great authors.

its the best novel written by the so called greatest indian writer, Premchand.
this book is about a poor peasant, named hori who had his lifetime dream of keeping a cow, but couldn't manage even this because of various social and personal hinderences. it confronts the reader with the actual reality of indian village, and its people, of how a poor villager prefers his man mariyada, or social status much above his own life.

this book also shows the difference between life in cities and villages, an More...

I want to read this book.

BEST OF THE HINDI CREATIONS

Purely Indian

it deserve hats off

this is amaszing

open it

must read

Classic

I simply couldn't do justice by writing anything about this book. The characters feel so lively that you forget that they are from a book. A true insight into the lives of Indians. You feel the pain of characters, you enjoy with them, in short you feel what they feel. A completely gripping novel with a great philosophical touch. You can only turn into a die-hard fan of Premchand Ji. A must must read for every Indian. And please don't read it in any language other than Hindi.

What a ride that was, if you live in India you are not oblivious to the facts presented in this book. I just love the way the writer makes it sound so non-dramatic and stick to the facts and leaves a whole room for you to analyze the perception for your own self....
Loved it. Munshi was truly a great writer, reminded me somehow of Tolstoy, although in simpler form..

An interesting look at intersections of caste and class, the rising nationalism, and comparisons between village and city life in 1930s India.

This is about the most hardhitting book that I have read against wealth itself! It covers a period and society in India where exploitation is common. Not as good as Munhi Premchand's short stories, but a terrific book neverthless.

This book is, and is recognized as, a masterpiece. If I had to think of an equivalent in English literature, I should suggest George Moore's Esther Waters (1894). To read either is to be emotionally overpowered.